FRIDAY, 2.00PM
HIGH Court Judge Edwin Cameron has ruled that Mineral and Energy Affairs Minister Penuell Maduna flouted basic legal rights when he fired the CEO of the Diamond Board.
In overturning Maduna’s dismissal of Gerhard Bindeman, who had been CEO of the board since 1989, Cameron found the minister to have acted in breach of the Constitution and Bindeman’s employment conditions. In his ruling, Cameron said: “The lawfulness of the minister’s conduct has been challenged, and upon the contentions and the facts before me the conclusion that he acted outside the statute is unavoidable.”
There is some concern at Maduna’s strategy towards staff he inherited when he took over the department form Pik Botha a year ago. Maduna is currently mired in controversy over his suspension in March of top state oil official Kobus van Zyl.